20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



Betty (Capt. John Eades) from England to the Isle of May ^^ and 

 South Carolina they had been captured by a Spanish vessel off the 

 coast of South Carolina. The Spanish put aboard a prize crew and 

 sent the Betty on to Havana, but the Spanish vessel herself was lost 

 in returning to Havana. While prisoners in Havana, Manley and 

 Spencer had heard that the Betty had been converted to a "snow" and 

 was to make a voyage to Campeche. About noon, when the Loo came 

 alongside her chase, Utting sent an officer to examine the stranger's 

 papers. Upon hearing that the master of the quarry could show only 

 a common receipt, Utting decided to seize the ship for the proprietors 

 of South Carolina and send her to Charleston. 



Before sending her off, however, Utting requested that an "Irish 

 gentleman" on the snow be brought aboard the Loo for questioning. 

 Before this gentleman left the snow, he was seen to throw a large oil- 

 skin packet overboard. A boat from the Loo retrieved the packet and 

 Utting discovered that it contained papers in French and Spanish. At 

 this, he decided to take the prize in, with the Loo as escort. 



The examination of the prize had taken the entire afternoon, and 

 when the Loo set sail with her charge it was 6 p.m. and growing dark. 

 The "Pan of Matanzas" (fig. i), a fliat-topped mountain behind 

 Matanzas Bay on the coast of Cuba, bore south by east at a distance 

 of i8 to 21 miles.**^ Taking his fix on the mountain, Utting set sail 

 and ordered a course northeast by north, the wind coming from the 

 southeast. This course was kept until midnight, when Utting, be- 

 lieving that he was clear of the Double Headed Shot Key in the west- 

 ern end of the Salt Key Bank, instructed Randell, the first lieutenant 

 and officer of the off-going watch, to alter the course to northeast and 

 went below to his cabin to rest, having been continuously on deck since 

 early morning.'^" 



Shortly after, Randell was relieved of the watch by Robert Bishop, 

 the master. Randell relayed these instructions to Bishop, reminding 

 him to have the deep-sea lead line cast every half hour,°^ and went 



88 "Maio" in the Cape Verde group occupied until the end of the eighteenth 

 century by the English, who claimed a right to the island under the marriage 

 treaty between Charles II and Catherine of Braganza of Portugal. The English 

 occupation is recalled in the name "English Road," which the port of Nossa 

 Senhora de Luz is sometimes called. 



80 The bearing and the distance to the Pan of Matanzas were given by Lt. 

 James Randell in his deposition to the court martial that tried Captain Utting. 

 (ADM I, vol. 5283.) 



"0 Utting's letter of February 15, 1744. (ADM i, vol. 2625. (See Appendix 

 B.)) 



81 Bishop's deposition at the court martial. (ADM i, vol. 5283.) 



